Pieters employee on Sint Maarten for reconstruction

In September 2017, Hurricane Irma caused a great deal of damage on Sint Maarten, with around 91% of the buildings damaged. The reconstruction of the damaged buildings is difficult to get started, partly due to the lack of local / regional technical personnel.

The Red Cross has a small team on Sint Maarten that contributes to the assessment and reinforcement of the existing buildings. The Sint Maarten team has recently been expanded. Among others, an employee of Pieters, Aniek Borgeld, left for Sint Maarten last month to temporarily strengthen the team.

The project Aniek is working on focuses on vulnerable families whose homes have suffered hurricane damage. A technical assessment is performed for each home. The work that is then done is based on the "building back safer" principle, so that the buildings are more resistant to the next hurricane or earthquake.

Aniek writes about her experiences in a blog.